Tiananmen Square Remembered 24 Years Later

Remembering Tienanmen Square

200,000 pro-democracy student protesters sit face to face with policemen outside the Great Hall of the People in Tiananmen Square on April 22, 1989 in Beijing during an unauthorized demonstration to mourn the death of Chinese Communist Party leader and liberal reformer Hu Yaobang. His death triggered an unprecedented wave of pro-democracy demonstrations which were brutally crushed.

Catherine Henriette/AFP/Getty Images

Remembering Tienanmen Square

200,000 pro-democracy student protesters sit face to face with policemen outside the Great Hall of the People in Tiananmen Square on April 22, 1989 in Beijing during an unauthorized demonstration to mourn the death of Chinese Communist Party leader and liberal reformer Hu Yaobang. His death triggered an unprecedented wave of pro-democracy demonstrations which were brutally crushed.

Catherine Henriette/AFP/Getty Images

Remembering Tienanmen Square

This file photo taken on June 2, 1989 shows hundreds of thousands of Chinese gathering around a 10-metre replica of the Statue of Liberty (C), called the Goddess of Democracy, in Tiananmen Square demanding democracy despite martial law in Beijing. The protests started in April and included hunger strikes and peaceful calls for change.

Catherine Henriette/AFP/Getty Images

Remembering Tienanmen Square

A young woman is caught between civilians and Chinese soldiers, who were trying to remove her from an assembly near the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, June 3, 1989. Pro-democracy protesters had been occupying Tiananmen Square for 7 weeks when government troops began to clear out their encampments.

Jeff Widener/AP Photo

Remembering Tienanmen Square

Using a loudspeaker, a student asks soldiers to go back to their barracks as crowds flooded into the central Beijing June 3, 1989. On the nights of June 3 and 4, 1989, Tiananmen Square sheltered the last pro-democracy supporters as Chinese troops marched on the square to end a weeks-long occupation by students.

Catherine Henriette/AFP/Getty Images

Remembering Tienanmen Square

People Liberation Army (PLA) soldiers leap over a barrier on Tiananmen Square in central Beijing on June 4, 1989 during heavy clashes with people and dissident students. The Chinese government crushed a student-led demonstration for democratic reform, killing hundreds of demonstrators in the strongest anti-government protest since the 1949 revolution.

Catherine Henriette/AFP/Getty Images

Remembering Tienanmen Square

An armored personnel carrier is in flames as students set it on fire June 4, 1989, near Tiananmen Square, which sheltered the last pro-democracy supporters. Chinese troops marched on the square to end a weeks-long occupation by student protestors, using lethal force to remove opposition it encountered along the way. Hundreds of demonstrators were killed as tanks rolled into the square.

Tommy Cheng/AFP/Getty Images

Remembering Tienanmen Square

A girl wounded during the clash between the army and students on June 4, 1989 near Tiananmen Square is carried out by a cart. The protestors were mostly unarmed, while the government troops used tanks and rifles to stop opposition.

Manuel Ceneta/AFP/Getty Images

Remembering Tienanmen Square

Beijing residents inspect the interior of some of over 20 armoured personnel carrier burnt by demonstrators to prevent the troops from moving into Tiananmen Square on June 4, 1989. As word spread that tanks were approaching all entrances to the square, residents and protestors began blocking the streets to stop them.

Manuel Ceneta/AFP/Getty Images

Remembering Tienanmen Square

A Beijing resident on the west side of Tiananmen Square shows a slug from the automatic rifle fired by the army on June 4, 1989 that went through his apartment window in central Beijing. Chinese troops forcibly marched on the square to end a weeks-long occupation by student protestors, using lethal force to remove opposition.

Manuel Ceneta/AFP/Getty Images

Remembering Tienanmen Square

At the end of the pro-democracy movement in China, onlookers examine the dead body of a protestor lying in a temporary morgue on June 4, 1989. He was killed during the night of violence in and around Tiananmen Square.

Peter Charlesworth/LightRocket via Getty Images

Remembering Tienanmen Square

A Chinese man stands alone to block a line of tanks heading east on Beijing's Cangan Blvd. in Tiananmen Square on June 5, 1989. The man, calling for an end to the recent violence and bloodshed against demonstrators, was pulled away by bystanders, and the tanks continued on their way.

Jeff Widener/AP Photo

Remembering Tienanmen Square

The bodies of victims lie among mangled bicycles near Beijing's Tiananmen Square in this June 4, 1989 file photo after the Peoples Liberation Army moved to clear the square of protesters on June 3, 1989.

AP Photo

Remembering Tienanmen Square

At the end of the pro-democracy movement in China, a lone cyclist walks past street barriers on Changan Avenue, crushed by Chinese Army tanks during the night of violence in and around Tiananmen Square on June 3, 1989. After weeks of protesting, the Communist Government carried out its final brutal nighttime crackdown on protestors just hours before this picture was taken.